Software

Sharepoint doesn’t send out alert emails

by Neil.B.Ennis September 1, 2006 No Comments Shortlink

There are a lot of useful articles in the Microsoft Knowledgebase to help you resolve the problem where sharepoint won’t send out email alerts. Some of them are really complex.

BUT!!!! Before you spend hours (like I did) trying all the complex solutions to make it work, try the simplest solution first:

Make sure your mail server allows relays from itself. In exchange, go into the SMTP server properties (Start / Programs / Microsoft Exchange / System Manager / Servers / My Server / Protocols / Smtp / Default Server / Access / Relay / “Only the list below” – Granted to 127.0.0.1.

General

Memes and viruses of the mind

by Neil.B.Ennis June 21, 2006 No Comments Shortlink

A while ago I posted my thoughts about “The Virus of Ideas”.

Since then I’ve been lucky enough to discover the work of Richard Dawkins. His 1991 article “Viruses of the Mind” explains the concept of an idea being analogous to a virus that infects the mind.

He says:

Like computer viruses, successful mind viruses will tend to be hard for their victims to detect. If you are the victim of one, the chances are that you won’t know it, and may even vigorously deny it. Accepting that a virus might be difficult to detect in your own mind, what tell-tale signs might you look out for? I shall answer by imaging how a medical textbook might describe the typical symptoms of a sufferer (arbitrarily assumed to be male).

It’s worth reading his description of those symptoms. Check out his article if you get a chance – especially if you think you might have been infected 🙂
Software

Easy backup

by Neil.B.Ennis August 16, 2005 No Comments Shortlink

I downloaded Image for Windows (IFW) from http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html

It lets me backup my entire hard drive to DVD or CD. Plus it makes the DVD or CD bootable. That means if my hard drive ever crashes, I just boot from the DVD, and it will automatically restore everything.

Amazing. Easy to use. Only $US 27.

My only gripes:

1. It doesn’t write to DVD-RW so you can’t re-use DVD’s.
2. Someone stupid like me could accidentally boot from a DVD and wipeout everything on the hard drive.

Both those gripes are solvable – just use cheap DVD-R disks, and (easier still) don’t be stupid.

I’ll email their tech dept and let you know if they have a solution for the DVD-RW’s.

Addendum (17-Aug-05)

IFW can handle DVD+RW disks without any problems. DVD-RW’s need to be fully blanked or brand-new before they will work. So I think I’ll buy some +RW’s and see how I go! The article is here: http://terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=215